brophog

For some people with injuries, they’ve had to learn to use the other hand. I taught myself to do all of my casting decades ago with my left hand, even though I’m right handed for most things. I don’t cast any better with my right hand than most people would with their non-dominant hand because I don’t use it for that task. If I had to learn today, I’d just use a left hand reel and do it that way, but that wasn’t an option decades ago.

Not necessarily. The fish isn’t fighting against the drag friction, but the rod itself still absorbs a great deal of their strength. What such a proposed contest would do is move people towards very heavy line so they could horse fish in even more than they already do.

I know braid to fc leader is very popular these days, so this may be going against the grain, but do you have a reason you want to move away from mono? You say it’s starting to wear, but you didn’t say you were dissatisfied. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of the lines and people have their preferences so you’ll get a lot of opinions.

Some people report that the inductor cups are crooked and they make more noise, but they’re fast spools.

While I don’t doubt Daiwa would love to sell 14 versions of a Tatula DC, is something like an SLX DC really that popular? You’re still paying a decent little premium these days for the DC experience.

I do think this brings up a good point that the minimum viable baitcast reel is much lower today than 25-30 years ago. Back then going too cheap on a baitcaster got you a set of plastic parts just waiting for a backlash and I dare not guess how many people swore off the technology altogether because of their purchasing choice. While I’m not recommending anyone go buy these cheap, generic OEM reels of today, I will say they’re a lot more viable as useable pieces of equipment.

I missed the part of that press release that included dollar signs

There is a big caveat there. Those guys that weren’t bringing in 45k in winnings this year look relatively better comparing 2024 to the proposed 2025 payouts, but we have to keep in mind they’re still losing money. They’re just losing less of it in the new structure. Edit: Important note in terms of that video analysis. He treats 2025 money as being +$45,000, instead of saying the angler is saving $45,000. His method of accounting makes it looks like an angler that cashed 0 in 2025, but had $15,000 in expenses, is now profiting +$30,000 when in actuality he still lost $15,000 instead of the $60,000 he would have lost had he never cashed out with entry fees. The TL;DR of this analysis is that practically everyone is worse off.

It isn’t coming from anywhere else. Total payouts are dropping by half or more. This is the reality for not only fishing but most professional sports, outside of those few examples we’re all familiar with. Sports like fishing where it’s traditionally been the industry supporting itself, YouTube and other social media sites are proving to be a much more efficient use of advertising dollars. I understand why this change with the entry fees was made, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Unfortunately, for a sport like bass fishing that lacks meaningful revenue streams, it’s going to be tough financially, regardless.

Stick with the Omega and Bullet. They’re pricy for a spincast, certainly can be an issue for people comparison shopping who will use something other than a spincast, but they’re worth the money. The biggest reason they’re so heavy is the construction. They’re literally tanks. About the only part to worry about, especially on the Bullet, is the thumbar assembly. It’s plastic and the little ears on it break with repeated stress but it’s also a 4 dollar part. Keep a couple of spares around.

Even the newer, higher end models are still like that. The drag is smooth enough, but the adjustment range feels very binary.

I wouldn’t call DC braking snake oil at all. It’s an effective braking system. It just happens there are a lot of other effective systems out there. Personal preference and specific circumstances dictate a lot of what one person thinks of a particular system vs another. DC braking is just another way of going about it.

I don't think that advice is at odds with what's in this thread. It's just that it's easier to describe and recognize that you've gone past the point of zero tension if you add some slop to the adjustment.

You get a lot more for $59 dollars today than you once did (in terms of a baitcaster) but I still caution against a cheap baitcaster for a beginner. Poor tolerances, bad bearings, sometimes useless brakes....these things really hamper your chance to learn a baitcaster without quitting out of frustration. And, yes, I was also one that bought a very cheap baitcaster at first. ?

When it comes to drag specs these days, the numbers might as well say eleventy billion. If you set your drag to 1/3 of your line's breaking strength, then that 20lb drag would be good up to about 60lb. Are you putting 60lb line on a 2500 size reel? There's other guidelines someone may use to set their drag, but that's one way of thinking about it. On a 2500 size reel, there's no functional difference between 13 and 20 lb max drag because you're almost certainly not using big enough line on that reel to max either. It's a 20lb drag because that's what the material they used allows for, and bigger numbers look pretty on boxes. Spinning reels will often have bigger listed drags than low profile casting reels, but you can easily find big game casting reels that have 25+ lbs of max drag and from the fishes perspective that's a lot of drag pressure. In terms of this trip, what do you consider to be a giant? How big the fish is, and what kind of structure you need to pull it out of tends to dictate how big of line you need and that's what will ultimately determine how much max drag you need.

Go with the above advice, for sure. Trying to use a weight and swivel like that has a major tendency to helicopter in the air and that can make things even worse. Also note that the lure ranges on rods are sorta educated guesses and sometimes the top and/or bottom of that range are not very accurate. With a baitcaster, if the rod doesn't load up and/or the spool is too heavy to start up quick, you'll have a tendency to overpower your cast to 'make up' that difference. This leads to a jerky, erratic cast and that's a big source of backlashes.

Some reels, namely bigger reels, will tend to wobble from side to side, but what you’re feeling isn’t noticeable when you’re fishing. Yes, the weight is not balanced from side to side on low profile baitcasters. You’ve got all the gears and handle on all one side and the other side is just a side plate with some small magnets or something. But, when you’re fishing your cranking hand is supporting the handle side and you’ll be palming the other side, lending your hands weight to balance that out. It works really well in practice even if in the store it may feel like that thing wants to rotate in circles.

The lesson is to not buy a Zebco 33. The reel’s price has barely changed over the years, and if your product is that massively behind the inflation curve then corners will be cut somewhere. What people remember their old 33’s as being is basically the Omega.

It is as big as it is to generate that high gear ratio. Since the main gear sits directly behind the spool the entire reel must grow in size to accommodate that gear. That’s why it’s such a long reel, and the fundamental reason spincasts are historically very low gear ratio reels. It’s a bit of a marvel of a reel, really, but I think it also really shows how limited and outdated the spincast design really is.

You can try altering your release timing to compensate. That’s usually a sign the brakes are altering the course of the lure. Pretty common when trying to cast a bait that’s too light. Make sure the rod you’re using can load properly for that lure and that your casting motion is indeed loading that rod. That’s happening because your bait isn’t carrying its momentum throughout the cast. Try a more aerodynamic bait or a flatter trajectory. Sometimes a sidearm cast will kinda loop in the air, using up its momentum very early then slows down before the spool does. Birds nests at the end of the cast are all down to the user, imo. Some reels are more controlled at the end of the cast, but by the end of the cast the user should be able to apply breaking via the thumb to prevent an overrun.

Have you flushed and relubed the spool bearings? Almost all factory bearings are too heavily lubricated if distance is a major consideration. You said brakes are set to minimize backlash, but did not specify what that setting was. There’s a big difference in casting distance between setting for no thumb and some thumb. Since you say you are new to baitcast reels, I suspect you’ll gain distance by lowering the brakes even further as you get more comfortable controlling the spool via slight thumb pressure.

I have a few about that age like that, especially when they went on sale they were a tremendous value. Unfortunately, I think they hit a point where that’s no longer the case.

Rods can get to see some ridiculous diminishing returns at a certain point. I feel like just looking at the top end is a bit disingenuous when we are talking about something like an Ugly Stik. There is just a massive difference between low end rods and that point of diminishing returns.

There’s a couple of reasons I subscribe to this idea. I feel you hit the point of diminishing returns much faster on reels. Plus, as long as you have a good starting platform you can often slowly upgrade a reel to make up that gap. Not to mention the rod is really what’s doing all of the work.

From the sounds of it, definitely something to consider. Most big box stores have it on display it seems so you can get a feel for the size.